The Recipe Box

After searching and searching on Etsy and Hyenacart, I couldn't find a recipe box that I liked, so my friend Michelle S. gave me the idea of making my own.

I went out to Michaels and bought the little wooden box that will become, I hope, a family treasure that I will pass on to my kids and their kids too.

Ever since my kids were little they each had their own colour so I didn't mix their stuff up; Cody is green, Ethan is orange, Mia is purple and Sydney is pink. I decided to do their hand prints in "their colour." So while at Michaels, I loaded up on paint and stencils and varnish and paint brushes too. This varnish I bought is interesting too...but I'll get to that.

So finally I got a chance to do it, but I figure it would be best to let the box and paint dry between each hand print so as not to smudge it. I got everything ready...laid out on the island and it was Cody's turn first...painted his hand put it on the box. It actually turned out well, I was surprised. Now to wait for the paint to dry.

Next it's Ethan's turn...paint his hand orange (which he really didn't like) and press it on to the box too...another good one...this box might actually turn out half decent. Waiting for paint to dry again...ugh..why does it take so long.

Finally Ethan's print is dry, now it's Mia's turn. Out comes the purple paint and we paint her hand too and put it on the box...not as good as the boys' but still good. We have to wait again...boy this is taking longer then I thought.

At last it's Syd's turn to have her print put on the box. I painted her hand with Ryan's help and quickly realized that she was going to eat the paint if I left it on too long so I quickly mushed it onto the box and washed it off....the print is soooooo cute....definitely a treasure.

The hands are on and once it's dry I can stencil on the name of my box.

Now, the name of the box was another problem...I didn't know what to put...so I asked my wonderful friends at GranolaChicks.com what they though. Their choices were:
Mom's Recipes

Catt's Recipes

Recipes

Mom's Recipe Box

Catt's Recipe Box
something else

Most voted for Mom's Recipes, with Mom's Recipe Box coming in second. I also got some awesome suggestions: Our Recipes, Made With Love, and Our Recipes Made With Love (which was too long to fit). I finally decided to use Mom's Recipe Box.

Stenciling took FOREVER, but when it got done, it looked pretty good...especially considering that it was the first time I'd stenciled something like that.

Last but not least I had to varnish the box so that it wouldn't get ruined if it got wet. I was doing this during Ryan's birthday party and I'm sure people were wondering why I kept going outside in the cold. I did about 5 coats, letting it dry in between and it still wasn't getting shiney....I had no idea what was going on. Finally I realized that I bought matte finish varnish, so not matter how many times I sprayed it, it would never shine!!

I'm very happy with the way my little project turned out...people have had nice comments about it too.

My Birthday Cake

I actually bought a cake at Zehrs for myself this year. I took a picture cause it's so pretty...I ate it ALL!!

Syd loves to eat!!

So, everyone knows that in my family, we LOVE to eat...in fact it's one of our favorite things to do! This has been passed on to our children.

I got these adorable pictures of Sydney this past week.

This is the first actual meal I made in the new house. Syd loved the chicken so much that she crawled up on daddy's lap and stole his too.

This one was taken the other morning. Mia and the boys decided to have Pogos for breakfast and I didn't know there was one left on the table while Mia went to the bathroom. Well, Sydney found it and dug right in! Look at that face!!!

My Nose

I took the plunge....K came with me to get my nose pierced. Hurt a lot less then I thought it would!!

The Move!

So the move is finally over and done with. YAY!!!

Thanks to my grandparents and Kathy B. we got everything out of the house by noon. And ask Kathy, there was so much stuff that she could barely see out her van windows!! My poor grandparents made 5 trips between the old house and their house with stuff...and finally the house was empty.

It was bittersweet. That is the house that we've lived in longest together. Both the girls were born there. When I was walking out for the last time, I actually cried a little.

Then I remembered the problems we've had with the house (stuff not working, stuff breaking) ever since we moved in.

I'm glad to be in the new house. It's much bigger, it's nice and clean and painted all pretty. The bathroom is so big that I can actually get the kids dressed in there after a bath...I have a closet for my broom and vacuum. The small things that I never knew I wanted.

When we got to the house, we found this in the fridge:

The note says "Enjoy your new home" on it.

We're not going to mention that we didn't get the key until 5pm and poor Ryan and the boys were sitting in the cold from 2:30PM until about 5:45pm when I finally got there. We're also not going to mention how dirty the house was...I actually had to clean to make it decent.

So we're in the house now...one day we'll be completely unpacked too...but I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to have my friends over to show them around!!

Our Bin!

I know the move is long over, but I have to post pictures of this bin. It was great. Unfortunately, not as big as what we needed but still it was HUGE!

This is what is looked like before it was packed. Ryan is standing at the very back wall, Ethan in the middle and me at the doors. It was big!! 20' long!


Now, for those of you who have been around Ryan while he was packing for anything, be it a trip or a move...you know that he is an awesome packer. We came home from Newfoundland with 7 people in the van and we could still see out all the windows and stretch our legs out. ANYWAY.... Ryan packed this bin to the top...there was no way that anything else could have gotten in there. He was packing stuff in there long after I thought it was full.

This is the bin when he opened it at the new house....now, I know you can't see all the way in to appreciate exactly how much CRAP is in there...but I'm sure you can still tell that it's tons!!

I would definitely recommend these bins to anyone that is moving. The customer service is awesome and it's terrific having it at your house for so long and being able to pack it over a few days!!